Method and apparatus for storing ice cubes



June; 22, 1943. c GERHARD 2,322,626

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STORING ICE CUBES Filed May 2, 1941 in the accompanying drawingin which:

Patented June 22,1943 F 'UlfllTED STATES .PAT'ENT OFFICE .METHOD AND a Ica- APPARATUS FOR STORIN corms Charles E. Gerhard, Gleriside, Pa., assignor t Philco Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 2,1941,S eriaiNo.39l,60'i y ample, it is quite difficult, if not impossiblato remove ice cubes individually from the tra'yin which frozen; hence the usual practice of removing all of the ice cubes from the trayand then placing those not immediately used into the evaporator drip pan or other dish within the re- F frigerator food storage compartment. This prac- I tice leads to furtherdimculties and objections for the ,cubes thus stored in thevdrip pan or other dish become frozen together andto said pan or dish thereby requiring that the individual cubes I 20 335,579, filed May 16,1940, and. may be divided be broken apart forcibly'from each other and from the pan or dish when it' is desired to use them.

Thus an arrangement in mechanical doinestic refrigeratorswhich permits or easy removal of one or more individual ice cubeswithout the use of any mechanical aid, and preferably without the necessity for removing the ice cube tray from the refrigerator, has long been desired and sought after. v

With this in'mind,-the present invention pro.- vides a novel, convenient and easily, usable ar- 'rangement that entirely eliminates theforegoing diflieulties and objections, and the'principal object of the invention is to'provide, in a mechanical domestic refrigerator, a novel method and apparatus whereby pro-frozen ice cubes can .be stored and kept frozen without becoming frozen together orwto a container ther by making indif vidual ice cubesreadily obtainable foruse as desired..\-,' its, Another object of thepresentinvention is to providea novel method for producing and obtaining in a domestic refrigerator readily available individual ice cubes.

A further object-of theinvention is to provide a novel method for storing ice cubes within the freezing-unit ofa domestic refrigerator.

Still a further object of the invention is 170 rovide a novel device or apparatus for the storage of individual ice cubes in domestic refrigeration apparatus,

These and other objects ofithe invention the various features-and details thereof are hereinafter'fully set forth and described and shown 3 Claims. (QLJ62108..5)

This invention relates to the storage of prefrozen ice cubes or foods in a domestic refrigerator, and more particularly to a novel method of Figure his 'mestic refrigerator; and

Figure 2 is a view in perspective of apparatus f constructed in accordance with this invention and 5 for practicing the method thereof l Referring now more particularly to the draw- Q ing, reference numeral I designates generally a.

mechanical domestic refrigerator, havingtherein' a food storage compartment 2 provided, in the In resent illustration,ywith the usual shelves in Located in the upper portion of the food stor age compartment 2 is a cooling unit 4 which is thrdugh which a refrigerant is circulated by suitable mechanism suchgas, for examplan motor" driven compressor (not shown). More particuw larlysuch a cooling unit 4 may embody the con-. struction shown and described in the co;pending' application of Malcolm G. "Shoemaker, Serial No.

by a vertical partition into two laterally adjacent chambers 6 and l the latter of which preferably isclosed except fat the front by walls of the cooling unit. Of course, the,chamber 6 may 3 be similarly closed if desired.

As shown in Figure 1, the front openings of the chambers 8 and I of thacooling unit 4 preferably are closed by means of doors or other suitable closures 8 and 9 respectively, which form,

39 together with the walls of the unit 4, a substantially closed chamber 1 or chambers 6 and 'l, as the case 'may be; Disposed beneat he unit 4 is a bafile member (notvisible) whi may be constructedand arranged to'direct the flow of air ztswitliin the refrigerator about and into contact with said unit 4 thereby cooling the food storage compartment tin themanner shown and described, for example, in the copending application of Frank D. Reltier,- Serial Ho. 347,526, filed 40, July' 25, 1940, now Patent No.-2,297,581.

' By employing a construction similar to that hereinabove referred to,'the air circulating within, the food storage compartment 2 contacts only the exterior surfaces oflthe walls of the cooling" unit 4 that enclose the chamber I for since the latter is entirely closed, substantially none of the v Now'lthe cooling-unit l of the refrigerato r'is" I preferably maintained at a temperature of about afront view in perspective of a do normally of the refrigerant evaporator type circulating air can enter said chamber I. Hence no moisture from the food storage compartment interior of.

10'F., and the present invention involves, essentially, the discovery that by placing separated pre-frozen individual ice cubes in a container supported in a dry'sub-freezin'g atmosphere such as exists in the chamber 1 of said cooling unit,

the said ice cubes can be prevented from freezing together and to the container provided the latter is supported in said chamber free from thermal conductive contact with the refrigerated walls thereof. Thus the ice cubes can be easily removed from the container individually for use as desired.

To this end the present invention comprehends the provision of a suitable rack or the like Hl'for supporting one or more containers II within the chamber l of the unit 4 in the manner'set forth. Preferably, the containers ii are conventional ice cube freezing trays for use with which there are provided the usual cube partitioning grids (not shown), for example, constructed ac--' cording to the disclosure in United States Patent No. 2,199,740, issued May 7, 1940.

The rack or like structure I is shownin Figure 2 of the drawing and comprises vertical front and rear .end brackets l2 and I3 respectively con:

nected together at their opposite sides by one or more longitudinal rails it .on which ice trays ii are intended to besupportedin the manner illustrated. For the purpose of supporting the rack in free from thermal conductive contact with the cooling unitbottom wall "on which it rests, the bottom end portions of the legs of the end brackets l2 and i3 have secured thereon members or feet It of suitable thermal insulating material such as, for example, rubber, Bakelite,

. plastic or the like, as shown in Figure 2. V

In practicing the present invention, the ice trays It with their cube partitioning grids in' place are filled with water and placed within the chamber 5 of the cooling unit 4 to be frozen into ice cubes, in the conventional manner. After the water has been frozen into ice cubes the trays ll are removed from the compartment 6 and the cubes then broken loose from the partitioning grid, from the trays Ill, and from each otherby any one of the mechanical methods generally in use. Thegrid is then removed leaving the in- .asaacae I p of the air in chamber I is always slightly above thetemperature of the walls of the cooling unit 8* and, hence, any moisture in the air in said chamber will condense on the surface of the cooler, walls of said unit t and not upon the slightly warmer surfaces of the ice cubes or trays ii. Thus by maintaining the cubes and trays at the same temperature and free from the condensation of moisture thereon, the said cubes will neither adhere to each other or to the tray nor can anew or fresh ice bond between them be limited to such disclosure but that changes and.

modifications may be made and incorporated therein as desired, within the scope of the annexed'claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making and storing individual ice cubes in a domestic refrigerator which comprises freezing water in a container to form a plurality of individual ice cubes, breaking the ice bond between said ice cubes and between the ice cubes and saidcontainer to separate said cubes from each other and the container, and then placing said container with the separated cubes therein upon a support located in and insulated from thermal conductive contact with a freezing chamber havinga very low moisture con tent thereby to prevent said cubes from freezing to one another and to the container so that the individual cubes can be readily and easily redividual dry ice cubes in spaced and separated relation to each other within their tray.

A tray ll containing ice cubes in such sepa: rated arrangement is then placed within the cooling unit chamber 1 upon the support or rack l0 therein and-the very dry sub-freezing atmos-' phere maintained within saidchamber I will keep the cubes in a frozen state and at the same time prevent the formation of a new or fresh ice bond between adjacent cubes andbetween the cubes and the walls of the tray ll due to the absence of moisture within the chamberwhlch otherwise would condense u n the cubes or the trays. Hence, the ice cubes remain separated and can be easily removed individually from the trays as desired for use.

This novel resul 'is' achieved principally because. the feet I! of insulating material on the rack 10 provide a thermal break in the contact between the cooling unit I and said rack Ill-with I the result that the. latter and the trays I I are not cooled by direct conduction from the unit 4. Rather, the trays I I and their ice cubes are cooled solely by convection by the air and thus are maintained substantially at the temperature of the I air within the unit chamber]. The temperature moved for use as desired.

'2. Apparatus for storing individual ice cubes within a domestic refrigerator comprising ametallic, refrigerant evaporator having therein a storage compartment, means substantially closing said compartment against the entrance ofair and moisture, and means for supporting an ice cube container within said evaporator, storage compartment free from thermal conductive-contact with the evaporator comprising a rack having legs provided with feet of thermally nonconductive material arranged to contact and rest upon the bottom wall of said evaporator storage compartment so that said ice cube container is cooled solely by convection of air within the storage compartment.

} 3. Apparatus for storing individual ice cubes within a domestic refrigerator comprising a metallic refrigerant evaporator having therein a storage compartment, means substantially enclosing said compartment against the entrance of air and moisture, and means for supporting an ice cube container within said evaporator storage compartment free from thermal conductive contact with the evaporator, said last means comprising a rackatleast aportion of which is of evaporator storage non-conductivematerial arranged to provide a thermal break between said container and said compartment.

CHARLES E. GERHARD. 

